Monday, March 22, 2010

MARTIN VISSER

The collaboration of Dutch designer Martin Visser (1922 – 2009) and Spectrum began back in 1954 when Visser was asked to work for them as a designer and be head of the company’s collection. Visser had a strong preference for craft-built furniture. Many of his designs had an industrial style, but were usually craft made. He also stretched techniques to the limit; he loved to make what was almost impossible! An example of this is that he did not bend his designs’ tubing, but cut and welded it. Honest use of materials, simple construction and absence of decoration gave the impression that Visser had a great admiration for Berlage and pre-war functionalism. He loved to make simple furniture using as little material as possible but with the clearest possible shapes. In the ‘60s, his furniture became less austere and looked more solid, with greater volume and comfort. In the late 70s/early 80s, Visser was Head Curator of modern art at the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam. After this period, he returned to furniture design. In his later designs, Visser expressed his conceptions about simplicity and clarity of form. This later work was more baroque than the austere designs with which he made his name. His inspiration came more from the art world rather than that of design. But the constructive aspect remained important; he experimented with new forms and materials, including cardboard and perforated sheet steel. Visser’s career was crowned in 1998 with the Oeuvre prize for design. Reissued designs are produced by Spectrum and vintage finds can be sourced internationally at fine dealers and auctions houses.